The present invention relates to a method for the formation of an image and an apparatus used therefor.
At present the widespread method for obtaining high-quality color photographic prints is such that photographing is made using a high-speed color negative film, and the photographed color negative film is color-developed to make a color negative, and through the color negative an exposure is made by means of a printer to a photographic color paper, and the exposed photographic color paper is then color-developed to thereby obtain a high-quality image color print (hereinafter called the negative-positive process).
On the other hand, because of the progress in the technologies for applying electronics, computers and laser beams and also in the precision machinery technology, it has become possible to record an original image on a photographic printing material including a photosensitive material not by way of focusing its color negative image through a lens system upon a photographic color paper but by way of converting the original image into electric signals or digital signals, then subjecting the signals to various conversion and correction treatments to thereby make output image signals, then according to the output color image signals, modulating by modulation means the quantities or intensity of laser beam lights in three colors: blue, green and red, and then deflecting and scanning the modulated three colors on the photographic material.
In the case where such the image forming method is used, the method is considered to have the following advantages as compared to the conventional negative-positive process:
(1) The conversions of gradations and colors can be easily made, and thus color prints can be easily obtained also from those original images other than color negatives (such as, for example, color reversals, color prints, printed matter, computer graphics, etc.).
(2) Various image processings can be made to produce high-quality images (for example, the smoothing treatment to reduce the graininess, the use of a Laplacian filter, etc., to stress the edge or to improve the sharpness, to compensate the out of focus or camera-shake in photographing, or to correct the underexposure or color of the light source used in exposure, and the like).
(3) Specific effects can be easily incorporated. For example, the preparation of composite images or composite pictures with character information, the rotation, movement, enlargement, reduction and making spatial distortion effects of images, the preparation of pseudo color images, and the mapping on three-dimentional objects, and the like.
(4) Color images can be transmitted remotely by utilizing a communication system.
The present invention relates to an image forming system suitable for use in obtaining high-quality image color prints, the system producing an output of a color image thus converted into electric signals or digital signals on a silver halide color photographic material (particularly photographic color paper) particularly by using laser beams.
Examples of the laser printer considered applicable to such the system include those described in, e.g., Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection (hereinafter referred to as Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication) Nos. 4071/1980 and 11062/1984, Japanese Patent Examined Publication Nos. 14963/1981 and 40822/1981, European Patent No. 77410, technical report vol. 80, No. 244 by the Institute of Electronics and Communication Engineers of Japan, and SMPTE Journal (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) 1984/6 (382), p. 34-36, and the like.
Any of such laser printers uses a very high-luminance laser beam light source, so that it has the following characteristics:
(1) The laser beam provides excellent resolution since it is capable of concentrating upon a very minute spot regardless of the exposure of film even if the amount of it is increased.
(2) Since the laser light has a high luminance, those low-speed, high-resolution, ultrafine-grained films or color paper can be used in addition to films for general photographing use.
(3) By the selection of a laser wavelength that causes no overlapping of colors to the spectral sensitivity characteristics of a color film, high-chroma color reproductions can be obtained.
(4) Since the gradation control can also be easily made, satisfactory gradation characteristics can be obtained.
(5) The display distortion produced by the deflector and optical system is very small.
The use of a laser printer enables to obtain a very high-quality color image even in the case where the image recording is made on a low-speed color paper. Examples of such the color paper include those as described in the Shashin Gijutsu Manual (Manual of Photographic Techniques), Part I: Fundamental Techniques (Shashin Kogyo Publishing Co., 1977), p. 53-61. Any of such photographic color papers comprises three different color sensitivity-having emulsion layers: blue-sensitive, green-sensitive and red-sensitive emulsion layers, comprising silver chlorobromide or silver chloroiodobromide whose silver bromide content is from 65 to 90 mole%.
Such the image forming system as described above is expected to be made a practical reality due to its many features as mentioned above as compared to the conventional method of making prints from color negatives by exposure, but there remain technical problems such as the cost and reliability of the apparatus, stabilization of resulting images, etc., yet to be solved.
However, we, the inventors, have been faced with unexpectedly difficult problems that, when the above image forming system is used, contrary to our expectation, the system is significantly inferior in the color reproducibility to the conventional negative-positive process (particularly the purity of yellow color is deteriorated). This fact runs counter to the theoretical expectation that the use of the laser beam improves the color purity as compared to the conventional negative-positive process because it is a monochromatic light.